House On Fire
by MagicalBookworm
Summary: All she remembers is a house on fire. He can help her heal, but will he? If he is heartless, he will tell her to die. If he has a soul, he will tell her to take a breath. To stay. To not leave this world. Down under. Summoning all her strength. Like it could heal her. Inhaling smoke. On fire. The world was on fire. Rated T for violence. Known before as Take a Breath.
1. Chapter 1

**I know my other Ninjago stories kinda suck, so I'm making another to make it up to you guys! Sorry for the laziness and messiness in the other stories!**

The world was on fire.

Heat raced up her back, and she smelled smoke. Her hair was burning. She pinched the tips of her hair, trying to keep her scalp from burning up.

Had she caused this?

Her hands stung and burned. Flames licked at her ankles. She felt her head. Warm.

On fire.

The house. The house was down.

She ran out of the doorway, just before it collapsed. She screamed for help. No one came.

She would never trust people again.

She rolled on the ground, putting out the flames on her clothes. She crawled toward the river nearby, her lungs burning.

Inhaling smoke.

On fire.

She dunked her head over and over again in the water. She cupped it with her hands and drank.

Like it could heal her.

Inhaling smoke.

On fire.

She crawled back to the house and found a bucket nearby. She returned to the river, dipping the bucket in.

Summoning all her strength.

Like it could heal her.

Inhaling smoke.

On fire.

She poured it on the house. All the precious water.

It sizzled, it smoked, and it didn't go out.

But the doorway was clear.

She crawled inside.

Her lungs burned again.

She clutched the bucket tightly.

She told herself to stay in the world.

To not float away.

Down under.

Summoning all her strength.

Like it could heal her.

Inhaling smoke.

On fire.

She crawled into her parents' room.

They were on the floor, their bodies blackened and burnt.

Sickened, she crawled to the next room.

Her brother writhed in agony on the floor.

He was too far gone. He would kill her. The smoke was dangerous.

She forced herself to stand. To run.

The doorframe fell apart.

Collapsed.

Down under.

Summoning all her strength.

Like it could heal her.

Inhaling smoke.

On fire.

The world was on fire.


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: I don't own Ninjago or any of its characters. I wish, you wish, we all wish...**

The world was on fire.

She woke to a headache, itchy scabs and burns, and an anxious face peeking at her. "She's awake, she's awake!" the person shouted. She heard footsteps.

"Really? I thought she had gone limbo!" She sat up and saw nine pairs of eyes watching her. There was amber, green-brown, green, brown, blue, icy blue, brown, brown, and grey-brown. The person who had shouted was Green-Eyes, and the person who had thought she was dead was Blue-Eyes. She scowled.

"Who are you? Where am I? Correction: who am I?" Her voice was hoarse and her throat hurt. Amber-Eyes swallowed.

"You don't remember who you are?" The mystery girl shook her head.

"No. Do I know you? Do you know me?" Their faces looked... Familiar.

"No. But you need a name." said Brown-Eyes-Black-Hair. "How about... Serena?" The girl shook her head.

Icy-Blue-Eyes raised an eyebrow. "Why don't we let her choose her own name?" Blue-Eyes nodded.

"What name comes to mind?" he asked. The girl thought for a moment.

"Erica. My name is Erica." The people gave each other uneasy looks. "Is something wrong with that name?" the girl asked. Brown-Eyes-Gray-Hair swallowed.

"No, everything's fine. Now get some rest." Erica smiled and put her head on her pillow. The other people shuffled out of the room awkwardly.

In Gray-Brown-Eyes's room, they started talking all at the same time.

"Didn't you say her name was Erica?"

"So she's my sister?"

"Dude, that is so cool!"

"No, it's not!"

"Yeah, it is!"

"She's from the prophecy?!"

"I thought the girl's name was Tara!"

"She lost her memory, pumpkin head!"

"The name of the girl isn't Tara!"

"Oh, yeah? How do you know that, tin can?"

"You probably don't know how to read!"

The volume in the room had steadily risen until Sensei Wu had finally had had enough.

"Silence!" He banged his staff on the floor. Everyone immediately fell silent. "She is the One! But something has changed. Lloyd, bring her here!" The said boy shuffled out the door.

A few moments later, he returned with the brunette. "Here she is," Lloyd said, dumping her on the floor. Erica scowled and dusted herself off.

"Yup, here I am," she grumbled, standing up. "So what do you creeps want from me?" Kai glared at her.

"We want to tell you everything." So Sensei Wu told the girl with no memory all about this world and the next.

"Long ago, Misako and Garmadon got married. I stayed alone. Misako gave birth to two children, Lloyd Garmadon and Erica Garmadon. Misako and Garmadon were warned about a prophecy, so they had to put you, Erica Garmadon, into an orphanage.

"A man and a woman adopted you when you were very young. You and their son became best friends.

"Redelle the Great, a powerful sorceress, was jealous of the girl's hidden power. So she sought to kill you. She set the house of your adoptive parents on fire. But she didn't know how powerful you really were, and are.

"So here you are, back with your real family, and with people who will become your close friends in time." And as she looked around, she could almost see the faces become clearer, more familiar, more friendly. This was home.


	3. Chapter 3

**Thanks for reading and reviewing! **

Erica Molly Garmadon. What a beautiful name. What about Erica Molly Michaels? That was more like it. Her hair, the color of rich dark chocolate. Her eyes, the color of the sand near the water at the beach, flecked with sparkles of different colors. Her skin, tanned and smooth. Her personality, funny and sweet. Her crush, hopefully him. Her lover, him.

Kai snapped his pencil in half. _Scratch that,_ _she probably likes Zane or Jay. _

He was going to change that. It was about time he fell in love.

He walked down the hallway, humming to himself. Kai walked onto the deck and spotted the brunette training with Jay.

"Crud! My ankle!" She stood up and punched Jay in the face, then limped away. Kai grinned. _I guess Jay's off the list. _Said ninja turned when he heard laughter. Pinching his bleeding nose, he yelled at Kai, Zane, and Cole.

"Hey! That's not funny!" He brandished his fist at them. Kai held his stomach to keep himself from laughing too hard.

"That's hilarious!" Cole went to thank Erica for her work; Jay would probably be out of the Nya-Cole-Jay love triangle for about ten minutes.

Later, Kai walked into Erica's room.

"Hey, thanks for beating up Jay earlier. He gets kinda annoying sometimes." Erica laughed.

"Sometimes?" Kai sighed.

"Okay, always." Erica smiled.

"You know, you're not as stupid as I thought you were." Kai raised an eyebrow.

"I'll take that as a compliment." The brunette laughed again.

"In fact, you're not that bad at all." She kissed him on the cheek and slipped out the door. Kai touched his cheek softly. Maybe Erica Garmadon could be a possible candidate as a date. Maybe she wasn't so bad, either.


	4. Chapter 4

**This chapter is the last one. It's going to be long, so try to keep up with the randomness of super-fast typing of plots and story lines for a story you want to finish but you just can't!**

Another totally normal day.

Okay, maybe not that normal.

"AHHHH!" Zane looked up from the miniature butterfly robot he had been building.

"Jay, is that you?" He walked out of his room and down the hallway. He entered Erica's room.

"What the—" Zane was cut off by Jay screaming his head off.

"Geroff me, you little devil!" The blue ninja was rolling around on the floor, kicking at a black panther scratching at him. Zane raised an eyebrow.

"It's not a devil, it's a panther," he pointed out. Jay glared at him.

"I can tell, Zane. But it's Erica! I tripped her, and she turned into this!" Just then, Kai and Cole ran into the room.

"What in the whole wide world is going on here?!" Cole shouted, tackling the panther. Kai and Zane began having an eye-argument.

Kai: What is going on here?

Zane: Not now, tackle the panther!

Kai: Tell me!

Zane: No.

Kai: Please?

Zane: Just tackle the panther!

Kai: Fine, but you owe me an explanation!

Zane: I won't forget.

Kai: You better not! If you do—

Zane: I don't wanna know.

"Um, a little help here?" Zane and Kai broke eye contact and turned around. Jay and Cole were on the floor, and a brunette was lying on top of them.

"Urgh, what happened?" Erica stood up and dusted herself off. Cole and Jay staggered to their feet, sore all over.

"You turned into a panther after I tripped you, and then you tried to kill me!" Jay said angrily. Erica laughed.

"Oh yeah! The look on your face was priceless when I first attacked you!" Jay scowled when everyone started laughing.

So what if she had been orphaned as a kid? So what if evil could be defeated, but never destroyed? That was okay. Because this was home. No one would hurt her here.

How wrong she was.


End file.
